I have chosen to design the opening scenery for King Richard the Second by William Shakespeare. This play was the first of a four play saga by Shakespeare. In this play he shows the beginning of the Wars of the Roses, which is a battle of power between two great families of their time. The main problem with Shakespeare's plays today is the fact that we do not know the history behind everything he wrote. Shakespeare wrote his plays with the assumption that his audience already knew what was going on and the history behind most of the characters. Today this is not always true. Today there are many people that go to watch a play and know nothing about the background or what it is about before entering the theater. In King Richard the Second we start off with conflict, and for an audience that does not know what has happened this can be very confusing. In order to help the audience understand what is happening we must give the subtle hints through scenery, lighting, costumes and much more. Another problem with some of these plays is the fact that common people might say the plays all look the same due to the fact many of them are set in castles. One way of dealing with this is to put the royal family's crest or coat of arms up somewhere to show where the play is taking place, or at least who is in power, so the audience may know something about the government of the time. For the opening scene I have decided to make it traditional with some subtle hints into who the king really is. I am keeping the set traditional by leaving a lot of room down stage to act in. Many of Shakespeare's plays are like this due to the large number of actors or, in some cases, the kings court. At the same time I am giving it the feel of a castle by using columns going from the outer front corners of the stage to the back wall. This will help with some of the sight lines that maybe present. Any other sight lines that may appear can easily be fixed with a black leg or some other more decorative form of a curtain. In this play we can add as much decoration as needed during the beginning while King Richard is in charge. It has been said that he was very well kept and some would even say he was a little feminine. Keeping this in mind I think the opening scene should show a well organized and thought out hall for the king. This is why I have decided to keep it very clean and open. Also, King Richard was a very proud king so to show this I am putting his coat of arms up on the back wall. This also gives room for change later in the play. Since the play is set in a castle there is not many ways a designer can change the scenery without confusing the audience as to where they are. By hanging banners with the kings coat of arms on them, they can later be replaced with Bolingbroke's, or just taken down all together. In my opinion this is how the opening scene for King Richard the Second should look because it will give the play room to grow and actually tell the story not only through the acting but through the scenery as well.
